


Dungeon & Dancers

by Steno



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bodyswap, Fantasy, Fem!Lance (but not actually), Gen, Genderswap, Keith is clueless, Tales of Altea Fanzine, alternative universe, male!Pidge (but not actually), online games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 15:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18122912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steno/pseuds/Steno
Summary: Once upon a game in one stageThere was a bored elf magewho was feeling trapped in a cage***Also where Lotor is a top-player in his game online and it's getting boring, but then a dancer named Lance appeared and, with his weird team, they make it fun again for him.***Regular text mixed with rhyming verses because I don't know what to do withmyself.





	Dungeon & Dancers

 

_Once upon a game in one stage_

_There was a bored elf mage_

_who was feeling trapped in a cage_

 

Lotor cast a thunder spell towards the last hobgalra. Even though it was supposed to be an A-Rank quest, the wizard found it disappointingly easy.

He was about to teleport back to the main city to claim the reward when a choked groan caught his attention. Following the noise, he managed to find its source: it was coming from a hidden cave he hadn't noticed before.

That something turned out to be someone, a girl apparently; her arms were bound tightly, and her head was stuffed into a dirty bag. She was shivering from the cold, poorly dressed in one of the dancer’s skins provided by the game.

"Hold on," said the mage. Lotor wasn’t really into teamwork, but he wasn’t cold-hearted either, so, with a quick spell, the rope dissolved, and the girl let out a relieved whine, tugging the bag from her head in a rush.

 "Finally!" she blurted smiling to Lotor, "Thank you!"

The mage stared, speechless. It wasn’t a girl at all.

°°°

"Why you didn't restart the game?" he asked.

"Because I wanted to play with two friends. We settled to meet in the Main city after the tutorial and the class picking, and I didn't want to keep them waiting. Plus, I found out that dancers have high stats regarding dexterity and agility, almost like a thief, and I can still learn to use long-range weapons."

"I guess you have a point. But, if you were playing with a party, how did you end up in the hobgalra's hideout? It's a single player quest."

"Oh, because Pidge needed to take her dog to the veterinary and Hunk has an assignment to finish, so I went alone. They're waiting for me at the Inn. Speaking of which, would you mind not telling them that I got captured?" replied Lance.

"I don't see why not. I ask you to let me claim the reward, though"

"Sure!"

 

_So, the mage met the unlucky archer_

_Who, due to a lag, became a dancer_

_Still claiming that his name was Sharp Shooter_

 

"Lance!" A big guy with a healer's rod waved from a table as soon as they entered the Inn.

"Hi guys, sorry I’m late; this is Lotor. They are Pidge and Hunk"

"A mage? That's rare, it takes a lot of EXP to become strong," stated the blond guy, dressed in an alchemist's robe.

"Indeed, but it's worth it." Lotor stared. "I do believe Lance told me you're a girl, so why did you pick a male avatar?"

"Oh, because the female alchemist's attire is almost obscene!" explained Pidge.

"Not everyone can pull off a sexy outfit!" posed Lance, with a hand on his hip.

"Not everyone is so dumb to click on the wrong class."

"IT WAS A LAG!" screamed back the dancer.

 

_The healer, the dancer and the alchemist_

_Not a common party but neither the weirdest_

_Thought the mage checking the new quest list_

 

The following day they took their first quest together: The Cursed Temple Quest, A-Ranked, and available only on Sunday. Lotor never had the chance to take it because it was meant to be completed by teams.

The rules were easy. Each group would be teleported to/into a different section of the maze. There they would have to find the temple in the middle of the labyrinth, collect the artefact, and then find the exit. The winning team would be given an extra life for the following week, but no team had ever won so far, because of the monsters and terrible traps.

Once in a while, a jingle could be heard, meaning that a team was defeated. Thanks to Lotor's strong magic, Hunk's healing abilities, Pidge's transmutations and Lance's... _things_ , however they did well. Actually Lance was really good at shooting, but Lotor had the suspicion that he somehow enjoyed being a dancer: he literally charmed an orc to make them cross a bridge.

Eventually, they made it to the inner part of the maze, without meeting any other players.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared from a lateral passage, hitting Lotor before he could realize what was happening. They rolled on the floor, and the mage found himself disarmed. He didn't have to look far to find his enchanted rod, since a barbarian was pointing it to his face.

"Keith!" someone called, a girl. "These are not monsters!" Lotor didn’t dare to move, but he heard Lance’s answer: "I could be whoever you want, baby!"

Predictable.

"Do you actually have magic skills?" he asked Keith, if that was the boy's name.

"He doesn’t. Keith, put that down," said a new voice, this time coming from a man, who exuded strong charisma. He probably was the team leader.

The barbarian glared at Lotor, giving him back his weapon in the end.

Standing up, Lotor could finally take a good look at the newcomers. There were four of them: the barbarian, the leader, the girl, and another man, a bard probably, considering he was holding an arp.

"Pleasure to meet you, the name is Coran, too many hardships we’ve already come through, We'd like the unnecessary fights to be able to outrun." The arp played by its own volition to accompany the bard's voice.

"What?" Hunk asked, looking confused.

"He means that we don’t have to fight. I think it would be useful if we could join forces. We could use some help, since my healing abilities, as a cleric, are not strong enough to pursue this quest," said the girl.

"Why should we join you?" asked Pidge, ready to fight, but Lotor stopped her.

"She's right, though. We lack in physical strength, a paladin, and a rogue could easily overpower lots of monsters, while the two of us fight from distance," explained Lotor, pointing to Lance.

 

_This moment would be remembered_

_as the one in which the game's fate was turned,_

_unfortunately, a big trap close by awaited_

 

"I swear I didn't know the temple was warded!" Lance took a step back, raising Shiro's hands.

"It is literally the name of the quest!" shouted Keith.

"I thought it was an Indiana Jones reference!" replied the dancer.

"I'm not killing you right away just because you're in Shiro's avatar and I don't usually hit girls!"

Lance swallowed. "Right… girls shouldn't be punched..." he looked around, fearing that someone was about to reveal his bluff.

But they had bigger problems to solve at that moment.

"Unbelievable," said Lotor, wearing a mixed expression of amusement and speechlessness. "This is a unique spell, one of a kind. I never saw it in action." He was focusing on the runes that caused their problem. "It's the Avatar Switch spell."

"Wow, Sherlock. It took you so long? How do we reverse this?"  said ironically Pidge.

"We can’t, we need to finish the quest to have our original avatar back." Lotor cocked Allura’s head.

"We're going to die!" Hunk was tucked against the wall trying to cover as much as he could of Lance's body. "I’m going to die half naked!"

"Here." Allura, being in Hunk's body, gave the poor guy his own cape.

"No one is going to die, as long as we stick together, you don't have to cry, this quest is going to be as simple as blowing on a feather," Shiro said,but by the end of the sentence he looked astonished.

"I'm sorry my friend, I was cursed to speak in rhyme some time ago and I'm afraid it can't be helped," said Coran in pidge’s body, patting his avatar on the shoulder.

"So, now what?" Pidge looked even more murderous than usual in Keith’s body.

"This way" said Lotor, gracefully brushing a lock of his hair away from his eyes.

"So..." Lance started walking with him while holding Shiro's shield high "...you're not going to take any chances?"

"I don’t have a death wish." Lotor glanced back, Shiro, in Coran's body, close behind them holding the arp awkwardly, as if he was ready to use it inappropriately.

"Watch out!" Keith, in Lotor's body, pushed them aside, a fireball barely missing them. A monster with too many legs jumped out from the shadows, ready to feast on them.

"Nice, a gigantic spider is not enough, let's make it spit fireballs too!" screamed Hunk from the back.

Keith ran, ready to rip it apart, forgetting he wasn't a barbarian anymore, so, instead of claws, a magic rod appeared in his hands. He and the monster stared at it.

"Uhhh… _Alakazam_?" The spider hit him in the stomach.

"What do we do?" Lance screamed.

"Something's happening here!" Pidge looked fascinated at her - Keith's - hands: purple fur starting to grow on the barbarian's body, his eyes turning yellow.

"Keith's berserker mode is on, just attack!" screamed Allura with the strong voice of Hunk.

°°°

There was a commotion when a new prize board appeared, meaning someone completed the Cursed Temple Quest for the first time, but the winners were nowhere to be seen.

"Do I want to know why you have a name tag around your neck?" they went straight to the tavern of Pidge's brother, Matt, after the quest.

"Who is Coran?" asked the boy.

"We have a non-disclosure agreement, what happens in the maze stays in the maze," replied Pidge, looking wrecked while staring into the void.

"Next time, just let me die," whispered Hunk from his corner.

"There is not going to be a next time, over my dead body!" said Keith. He never looked so serious.

"What about the artefact?" asked Matt.

Pidge tossed in front of him a dark cube crossed by a green glowing line.

"What’s that?" said the bartender.

"What’s that?" said the cube.

 

_Just the day after, the legendary guild of lions was born_

_because no one except the dancer wanted their symbol to be a unicorn_

_to complete the final quest and find Voltron they had sworn_

 

"What is this Voltron, again?" asked Hunk.

"No one knows! At the launch of the game, they said there was a hidden treasure to find: Voltron. The only thing we know is that it’s all that’s left from an ancient culture. I think it's an artifact, but it could be anything at this point," explained Pidge. She had called for an emergency meeting that morning to tell them that she may have found where Voltron was located. "I was checking the list of permanent quests still unsolved and I found this." She opened an old book on the table.

"The Demon King’s Quest: deep in the core of the game, the demon king is waiting in his castle, built in a mysterious land, uninhabited for ten thousand years." Pidge looked at them expectantly.

"So...?" Keith's eyes kept going back and forth between her and the book.

"Uninhabited! It means someone once lived there!"

"You mean Voltron is hidden somewhere in this quest?" asked Allura.

"It's kind of vague," Shiro didn't look very convinced.

"It has to be vague, or anyone could find it!" Lance looked totally excited instead.

"There's something we need to consider first," Lotor pointed out thoughtfully." This is maybe the hardest Quest in the game, we need to be sure we can do it".

"This is why we have to do it now! We have an extra life until tomorrow night!"

That was a good point. The others nodded and Lotor took a deep breath. He was in big trouble.

 

_There were one hundred dangerous stages_

_symbolizing sins committed by the king during the ages_

_with his horrid immoralities you could fill tons of pages_

 

"I think I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life." Hunk was curled on the floor.

Currently, they were in a safe space, right before the boss. It took them almost a whole day to clear the dungeon; they were almost there, except they had to defeat the evil king first.

"Fighting a Weblum is literally a voluntary suicide, let alone three, what the hell is wrong with the programmers?" Keith was walking around the room, enraged. He had lost his favourite sword in the fight and he wasn't happy about it.

"I'm afraid of what's coming next if the second last stage was this hard, I don't want to think about the final boss," said Allura worried.

"He's not going to defeat himself! It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!" said Lance, raising a fist in the air, heading towards the final stage portal. "Follow me!" and he disappeared.

"Maybe we should go." Shiro looked worried.

"If he's walking us into another trap I’ll kill him." Pidge grabbed Hunk to help him stand.

"Him?" Everyone froze. " _Him_?" Keith asked again with a scary tone, hurrying towards the portal, the others running after him. Lotor followed resigned. He knew this moment would come.

Lance was alive after all, but he wasn't in a favourable position: he was lying on the floor with an ax pointed to his sternum.

"Looks like we have more guests," said the woman holding him down. She was as big as a half-giant.

"Defend!" Shiro's imperious scream put them on guard. He summoned his shield, sheltering Allura from three arrows, shot by an orange skinned girl, who was already looking for a better target.

Keith launched himself towards the woman pinning Lance on the floor. He was in his berserker form, and even though she was bigger, he was faster.

Pidge threw a bottle towards the third woman, a Sniper. The glass broke, and a green cloud enveloped her.

Suddenly Shiro realized that there was a fourth woman slightly behind the others. She was drawing a seal in the air; he tried to warn the group, but it was too late. A dark hole opened on the floor under the seal and a big cat creature jumped out. It was as big as a horse, with scary fangs.

In a moment it was on Keith, ready to eat him alive.

And then it crashed against an invisible barrier.

The creature stepped back in confusion and the fight stopped.

Someone emerged from behind them.

Lotor quietly walked across the room until he was standing between the two groups.

"My lord!" The four women bowed and made room for him to walk to the throne.

Lotor turned back and extended a hand: a magnificent sword, shining with purple light appeared from thin air.

"The Sword of Quintessence!" Pidge almost choked, recognizing the weapon. "I thought it was a legend!"

"It's just rare, my fellow Alchemist, unique, one could say. There is only one in the whole game, and it was given to the first beta-tester who finished the game," explained Lotor.

"You are the Demon King," said Shiro. It wasn’t a question.

"Indeed. All the betas were offered to be bosses in the game," he lowered the sword, sitting on the throne.

"Now what?" Lance looked around. "Do we need to fight you? Was this your plan all along? Joining a group, bringing it to your castle and then kill them?"

"Quite the contrary, I was given the responsibility to choose the best players, but no one dared to begin this quest, so I had to go out and look personally for them. I observed you all during our adventures and I decided you are totally worth of Voltron!”

"So, Voltron _is_ a thing!" Pidge squeaked.

"Sure, it is, it’s a game. You could be in the beta test  if you'd like, this is your prize" said the mage.

"And will we be in the game as characters afterward?" Hunk was almost sparkling with hope.

"If you want."

"Keith," called Lance, "punch me, I think I’m dreaming."

The barbarian grinned and hit the dancer with all his strength, sending him flying into the wall.

"Are you freaking crazy?!" Lance shouted, looking betrayed.

"Your wish is my command, _milady._ "

 

_So, this is the end of the ballad until now._

_Another time I will tell you about the cow_

_and the new game we joined somehow_

Coran the Bard


End file.
